Q. What are your impressions of electronic vehicles? Do you think that they are worst or better than regular vehicles in regards to performance and fuel consumption?
Does anyone have an electronic car or know of anyone that does? What are your impressions that you get from ownership? Does it look like it takes effort to own and refuel compared to that of an ordinary fossil fuel vehicle?
Iâm interested to know how you charge them in your own home. I assume you canât just simply plug it in a regular plug socket! If anything, how much does it cost to have certain adapters/ rechargers installed in a household?
How often do they have to refill and how long does it take to charge? (Please state make and model).
How easy is it to find a fuel station that caters for an electronic vehicle?
What worries would you have, if any, about purchasing an electronic vehicle? (E.g. performance, fuel consumption, servicing, incurring charges, or perhaps maintenance).
Thanks a lot, I'd really appricate your answers!
Does anyone have an electronic car or know of anyone that does? What are your impressions that you get from ownership? Does it look like it takes effort to own and refuel compared to that of an ordinary fossil fuel vehicle?
Iâm interested to know how you charge them in your own home. I assume you canât just simply plug it in a regular plug socket! If anything, how much does it cost to have certain adapters/ rechargers installed in a household?
How often do they have to refill and how long does it take to charge? (Please state make and model).
How easy is it to find a fuel station that caters for an electronic vehicle?
What worries would you have, if any, about purchasing an electronic vehicle? (E.g. performance, fuel consumption, servicing, incurring charges, or perhaps maintenance).
Thanks a lot, I'd really appricate your answers!
Answer
Electric cars are really still being invented. So far there have been a few made, but they aren't total transportation solutions. The problem is that they can't run more than 150 or 200 miles (at most) on a charge. So you can't take one on a long trip.
Electric cars can be charged right from a household socket. But they charge faster at 220 than 110, so if you're serious you'll have a 220 socket put in your garage. Most homes are wired for 220, in fact if you have a clothes dryer in the garage you probably already have a 220 socket.
Our power companies have huge excess capacity in the evening and at night. Power stations can't just be shut down, they make power 24 hrs a day but peak demand is only from 7am to 5pm. And there's no way to store this power. So power at night is excess, basically 'free'. We could power million of cars from this power. (Here in California where we make a lot of power from rivers running downhill in the Sierras, we use this excess electricity to pump water uphill at night so we can make more power in the morning!)
There are breakthroughs being made all the time in batteries, to allow them to hold more energy for a given weight and size. So the electric cars of the future will to more distance per charge. Also we're working on a model of hybrid that runs on batteries for the first 100 miles or so, then the gas engine kicks in. This will be a good all-around car. Normally they will run just on batteries for commuting, the occasional trip to the store or driving kids to soccer practice. But if you decide to go on a long road trip you're covered there too.
Electric cars should last a lot longer than gas-powered cars. There's no engine, just an electric motor, and those last practically forever. The motors are small enough to fit inside the wheels! The batteries, though, are very heavy, and make up perhaps more than half the weight of the car.
Electric cars are really still being invented. So far there have been a few made, but they aren't total transportation solutions. The problem is that they can't run more than 150 or 200 miles (at most) on a charge. So you can't take one on a long trip.
Electric cars can be charged right from a household socket. But they charge faster at 220 than 110, so if you're serious you'll have a 220 socket put in your garage. Most homes are wired for 220, in fact if you have a clothes dryer in the garage you probably already have a 220 socket.
Our power companies have huge excess capacity in the evening and at night. Power stations can't just be shut down, they make power 24 hrs a day but peak demand is only from 7am to 5pm. And there's no way to store this power. So power at night is excess, basically 'free'. We could power million of cars from this power. (Here in California where we make a lot of power from rivers running downhill in the Sierras, we use this excess electricity to pump water uphill at night so we can make more power in the morning!)
There are breakthroughs being made all the time in batteries, to allow them to hold more energy for a given weight and size. So the electric cars of the future will to more distance per charge. Also we're working on a model of hybrid that runs on batteries for the first 100 miles or so, then the gas engine kicks in. This will be a good all-around car. Normally they will run just on batteries for commuting, the occasional trip to the store or driving kids to soccer practice. But if you decide to go on a long road trip you're covered there too.
Electric cars should last a lot longer than gas-powered cars. There's no engine, just an electric motor, and those last practically forever. The motors are small enough to fit inside the wheels! The batteries, though, are very heavy, and make up perhaps more than half the weight of the car.
Who thinks we need electric cars now?
Jimz
I think so cuz of global warming and the "Aptera" is the perfect car to drive, it goes 300 miles per charge for a hybrid, and goes 120 miles for all electric, the charging takes a couple of hours and doesn't cost alot to charge (a few dollars) the all electric cost about $26,000 the hybrid cost about $30,000. Think about you don have to buy gas anymore with the all electric you can learn more about this and reserve one now at http://www.aptera.com/ P.S there's also a video on youtube about this car
Answer
What your describing is far from perfect for a vast majority of people. I have 3 kids and a wife, only one of whom will fit in that thing. I don't have off-street parking available, so where do I plug it in? My workplace also does not have dozens of outlets in the parking lot, so same question. I live in Wisconsin, which gets pretty cold. Will the all electric model run at all when it's -10° outside? If I run out of juice halfway to where I'm going, I'll have to sit somewhere (with an outlet) for a "couple hours". Plus, the thing looks like a death trap. I'm not paying $26K for George Jetson's golf cart, no matter how much gas costs.
What I "need" is for our pansy politicians to quit pandering to the environmentalists and start drilling anywhere there's a trace of oil to be found under American soil. By the time all the oil dries up many decades from now, we'll have perfected hydrogen, fuel cells, fusion, or who knows what. It's not like all the oil will just suddenly vanish and the next day we'll be out of gas. Electric is nowhere near a perfect solution right now.
What your describing is far from perfect for a vast majority of people. I have 3 kids and a wife, only one of whom will fit in that thing. I don't have off-street parking available, so where do I plug it in? My workplace also does not have dozens of outlets in the parking lot, so same question. I live in Wisconsin, which gets pretty cold. Will the all electric model run at all when it's -10° outside? If I run out of juice halfway to where I'm going, I'll have to sit somewhere (with an outlet) for a "couple hours". Plus, the thing looks like a death trap. I'm not paying $26K for George Jetson's golf cart, no matter how much gas costs.
What I "need" is for our pansy politicians to quit pandering to the environmentalists and start drilling anywhere there's a trace of oil to be found under American soil. By the time all the oil dries up many decades from now, we'll have perfected hydrogen, fuel cells, fusion, or who knows what. It's not like all the oil will just suddenly vanish and the next day we'll be out of gas. Electric is nowhere near a perfect solution right now.
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